Tag Archive for: cash management

De controller in een veranderende omgeving: Budgetteren als hulpmiddel bij cashmanagement

| 28-2-2017 | Olivier Werlingshoff | FM.nl |

 

Op de website FM.nl vonden wij een artikel van Theo van Houten ( 21 februari 2017) die wij graag met jullie willen delen.
Hij schrijft: ‘Zijn de methoden en technieken die controllers tijdens hun studie leerden nog wel relevant nu organisaties in een omgeving werken die inmiddels veel dynamischer en complexer is?’ Het artikel is een onderdeel van een serie en richt de focus op cash managment.

 

Cash Management

Theo van Houten schrijft dat cashmanagement gaat over alle activiteiten die verband houden met de optimalisatie van de kasstromen tussen de organisatie en haar stakeholders, zoals bijvoorbeeld klanten, leveranciers, werknemers en financiers. Een goed kasbeheer is voor een organisatie vaak van doorslaggevend belang. Dat komt mede door de hoge kosten die verbonden zijn aan het aanhouden van liquide middelen en het afwikkelen van ontvangsten en betalingen.

Maar de belangrijkste reden voor een goed cashmanagement is het voorkomen van een faillissement. Het CBS doet jaarlijks onderzoek naar de oorzaken van een faillissement. Daartoe onderzoekt zij gerechtelijke vonnissen om het eerder uitgesproken faillissement te beëindigen, omdat er bijvoorbeeld door de curator een akkoord met de schuldeisers is bereikt of omdat er een gebrek aan baten is. De rechter baseert zich bij die uitspraak op het verslag van de curator die de oorzaak van het faillissement heeft vastgesteld. In december 2016 publiceerde het CBS de cijfers over 2015. In dat jaar werden van 7.602 rechtspersonen (exclusief eenmanszaken) het faillissement beëindigd. Die organisaties waren door de volgende oorzaken failliet gegaan;

De belangrijkste oorzaken zijn dus:

  • Economische oorzaken. Denk hierbij aan toegenomen concurrentie, smaakveranderingen bij het publiek en veranderende economische omstandigheden (al dan niet in het buitenland).
  • Mismanagement, waarbij gedacht moet worden aan administratieve problemen, gebrekkig debiteurenbeheer, te hoge of te lage financiering en marketingmissers.
  • Overig. In deze categorie vallen zaken als een kredietstop en dubieuze/frauduleuze handelingen

Volgens The van Houten maakt het overzicht duidelijk dat in verreweg de meeste gevallen de oorzaken direct (krediet-stop, oninbare debiteuren, te lage financiering) of indirect (tegenvallende afzet, administratieve missers, hoge financieringslasten) de liquiditeit van de organisatie aantasten. Het gevolg daarvan is, dat er bijvoorbeeld niet meer kan worden ingekocht op rekening, personeel niet meer betaald kan worden of de te betalen belasting verschuldigd blijft. Een faillissement is dan vaak onafwendbaar.

Budgetteren als hulpmiddel bij cashmanagement

Een van de belangrijkste planningsinstrumenten waar een controller volgens The van Houten mee werkt is het budget. Budgetten zijn taakstellende begrotingen, dus aan financiële grenzen gebonden plannen van actie. Er zijn belangrijke redenen om te budgetteren. Vaak genoemd worden: kostenbeheersing, het verhogen van de slagkracht, coördinatie en communicatie, prestatiemeting en de bijdrage die ze leveren aan het voorspellen van de financiële resultaten van de organisatie.
Ook op het gebied van cashmanagement kunnen budgetten een belangrijke bijdrage leveren. Dat gebeurt via het zogenaamde masterbudget. Hiermee wordt een samenhangend geheel van alle deelbudgetten bedoeld, dat resulteert in een begrote eindbalans, begrote resultatenrekening én een liquiditeitsbegroting.
Om dat masterbudget op te stellen, begint de controller om in samenspraak met degenen die er zicht op hebben (de verkoopafdeling, bijvoorbeeld) een inschatting te maken van de te verwachten omzet voor komend jaar en meestal wordt dat nader gespecificeerd in verkopen per kwartaal, maand of week. Zodra dat bekend is, kan bepaald worden wat er elke periode geproduceerd moet worden, waarbij rekening gehouden wordt met beschikbare en gewenste voorraden eindproducten. Daarna kunnen de inkopen gebudgetteerd worden die noodzakelijk zijn om te kunnen produceren, waarbij ook hier rekening gehouden wordt met beschikbare en gewenste voorraden grondstof.

In veel organisaties start het budgetteringsproces in het najaar met het opstellen van een begroting, waarna voor het einde van het jaar de budgetten van komend jaar worden bepaald die vervolgens vaak een heel jaar ongewijzigd blijven. Deze budgetten zijn niet zelden ook het uitgangspunt waarop het cashmanagement is gebaseerd. De economische omstandigheden veranderen tegenwoordig echter zo snel, dat de budgetten veel minder houvast geven. Dat heeft grote gevolgen voor de mogelijkheid om aan betalingsverplichtingen te voldoen. Gaat het immers plotseling slechter, dan neemt de omzet af en dat heeft al snel veel minder ontvangsten tot gevolg. Als daar qua uitgaven niet op geanticipeerd wordt, ontstaan mogelijk onoverkomelijke betalingsproblemen. Maar ook als het economisch ineens veel beter gaat, dan zijn er potentiële risico’s rond de liquiditeit. De extra inkopen en de eventueel extra personeelsleden die ingezet moeten worden, dienen vaak veel eerder betaald te worden dan het moment waarop de extra ontvangsten worden geïncasseerd.

Taken controller

Theo van Houten : ‘Het bovenstaande maakt budgetteren geen zinloze exercitie voor cashmanagement, integendeel. Nog steeds spelen ze een belangrijke rol bij het inschatten van toekomstige ontvangsten en uitgaven. In mijn vorige column gaf ik echter al aan dat de hoogte en samenstelling van planningsinstrumenten als budgetten beduidend vaker moet worden herzien dan in veel organisaties nu het geval is.
Hiervoor dient de controller veel dichter op de business te zitten en te begrijpen hoe de bedrijfsprocessen werken, zodat de gevolgen voor de geldstromen van veranderingen veel beter en sneller ingeschat kunnen worden. Dat maakt het namelijk mogelijk om te anticiperen en tijdig, voordat de problemen ontstaan, maatregelen te nemen, zoals het uitstellen of vervroegen van investeringen, het maken van afspraken over betaaltermijnen met klanten en leveranciers of het regelen van extra kredietfaciliteiten. Kortom, de controller heeft hier een spilfunctie. Om die goed uit te voeren is het noodzakelijk dat hij of zij in de gesprekken met budgethouders de te verwachten ontvangsten en uitgaven steeds aan de orde stelt.’

De hele serie artikelen kunt u lezen op FM.nl

Theo van Houten is hoofddocent management accounting en onderzoeker bij het lectoraat Financial control aan de hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen. Tevens is hij onder meer (mede-)auteur van de boeken ‘Financial control van projecten’ en ‘Bedrijfseconomie in de praktijk’.

 

Zo ver het artikel van Theo van Houten. Wij hebben onze expert Olivier Werlingshoff gevraagd om zijn eigen inzichten hierover met ons te delen. Zijn antwoord:
‘Ik ben het helemaal eens met wat er in het artikel word aangegeven.Wat ik tot nu toe echter heb gemerkt is dat (financial) controllers vaak naar de organisatie kijken vanuit de boekhouding en niet zozeer vanuit geldstromen. Business controllers kijken daarentegen weer meer naar de organisatie-processen. Het zou goed zijn als er ook meer gericht wordt gekeken naar de geldstromen en hoe deze kunnen worden ingeschat en zelfs kunnen worden geoptimaliseerd. Een voorbeeld hiervan is om te kijken naar de cashmanagement mogelijkheden die er bestaan om gelden sneller binnen de organisatie op de gewenste plek te krijgen.
In wat complexere organisaties zou de functie van het opvolgen van de diverse processen met een cash bril beter kunnen worden opgepakt door een toegewijde cashmanager. Een cashmanager is vaak beter dan een controller op de hoogte van de mogelijkheden die er in de markt bestaan om cashstromen te optimaliseren en te beheersen. Een goed combinatie en samenwerking tussen een controller en een cashmanager is naar mijn mening de oplossing om de financiële processen goed in beeld te krijgen, budgetten op te stellen en acties op te zetten om indien nodig bij te sturen.’

Olivier Werlingshoff - editor treasuryXL

 

Olivier Werlingshoff

Managing Consultant at Proferus

 

Working capital management : Some practical advice on the optimization of the Order to Cash Cycle

| 27-2-2017 | François de Witte |

 

As mentioned in my article “Treasury : proposed “to do” list for 2017”, working capital management will remain a hot topic throughout the year. The first priority is to reduce the working capital needs and financial expenses by optimizing the Order to Cash cycle. In this article, we will develop a plan of approach and propose some concrete actions enabling to generate tangible savings.


Background

The purpose of the Order to Cash optimization is to improve the whole cycle from the moment of the ordering of the goods or services, until the final payment, with the aim to:

  • reduce operational inefficiencies and risks such as delays between goods or service delivery and invoicing, credit management issues, unapproved discounts and deductions, data quality issues, etc.).
  • improve a number of processes such as the invoicing, the dispute management, the credit management and credit control
  • assess the current the tools, build business case for the improvement thereof, and implement them.

Plan of Approach

When starting such a project, I recommend to have at first a quick scan of the overall Order to Cash process so as to identify the critical areas and to assess the business case. Based hereupon, one can then subdivide the project in a number of streams.

In such a project, typically the following processes should be covered:

Ordering processes:
It is important to have a client acceptance process (for me a must in the B2B) and a clear policy on the way orders are accepted. I recommend to only accept written orders. For nonstandard goods, we also need to examine if a prepayment is required before an order is accepted, so mitigate the risk in case that the client does not execute this obligations. It is also useful to check beforehand if the exposure on the client will not exceed the existing credit limits.

Current invoicing processes:
Ideally the sending of the invoice should coincides with the delivery of the goods or services. Furthermore it is important to have the invoices sent timely. These actions enable to reduce the “hidden DSO”. Quite a lot of companies lose several days of easy working capital by neglecting this.
A good customer database is key, and in combination with the ERP, this  enables an automation of the invoicing process.  I recommend to use as much as possible e-invoicing, so as to reduce the costs and the postal delays.

Current credit management processes:
A formalized credit policy is a prerequisite. A number of solution providers offer solutions for the scorings of your clients, so as enable you  to define the credit limits in function hereof. In some sectors this information can be enriched by market information. Of course, one need to ensure that sales staff comply with this and check beforehand that the  credit terms have been duly approved. The credit manager needs to work hand in hand with the sales staff.

Current dispute management processes:
Prevention is important. For this reason, when ordering nonstandard goods, it is recommended to check beforehand the availability of the goods and the timing of the delivery, so as to manage the expectations of your clients. Throughout the process (from the order acceptance to the delivery and the invoicing) one should apply thee “first time right” so as to avoid disputes and litigation afterwards. Check also if some services and repairs are to be done under a maintenance contract or warranty, in which case they should be invoiced to other parties.

Current collection and credit control processes
It is important to have a well-organized credit control process enabling to send reminders quite soon after the due date (if possible the first reminder after 15 days). It can help to send to send to your clients some days before a gentle reminder of the forthcoming due invoices. Once the 2nd reminder has been sent, and provided that there is no dispute, it can be useful to block the delivery of goods and services to your client, so as to have an additional leverage, and to have  the credit collectors should calling the clients to see why they do not pay, and agree with them on an action plan.
When the classic reminder and call actions do not succeed, involve also the sales department and consider first a final call  by another person, before sending your clients to the debt recovery service or to the debt collection agency.
It is important to also ensure an automation of the processes, in particular if one has to address high volumes. If you cannot do it with your current systems, there exist good solutions in the market.

Reconciliation and allocation of incoming payments:
This is a big challenge for many companies. Make sure that your clients use the right payment instruments and payment messages, so as to facilitate the reconciliation process. Within the accounting department, incoming payments are not always allocated promptly, distorting the real accounts receivable outstanding. As a result, reminders can be sent unduly, leading to client dissatisfaction.

KPI’s and Dashboards:
It is important to foresee KPI’s for all the involved stakeholders, as well as incentives to ensure that everybody play the game. Dashboards should enable to remain in control and to monitor regularly a number of key indicators. An area of attention are the overdue receivables. A too high percentage of overdue receivables/total portfolio might be an indicator of possible uncollectable receivables and the need for write-offs.

Attention points

An Order to Cash optimization program is complex and we need to address a number of issues such as :

  • The resistance to change: people will come up with several reasons to keep on with the current processes. Overwork or client dissatisfaction will be used as excuse for deviations with the processes. Hence involve all the stakeholders, take time to listen to them and to make sure that they buy in the change. If the change is well explained, people will tend to accept the changed processes. The support of the senior management is key to address this resistance.
  • The limitation of the systems such as e.g. the ERP or the accounting package: Quite a lot of companies miss opportunities because they do not understand the capacities of their ERP. Involve from the start system experts and examine with them possible workarounds.
  • The standardization of processes throughout the organization : This can be an issue, in particular when working on multiple locations. Processes should be well documented. Once this is done, one can look for the automation.
  • The information and training of the stakeholders: Make sure that process documentation is easily accessible, and consider organizing training sessions for the involved staff.
  • The time and effort needed to implement external solutions: This requires a good business case, including all the aspects. Do not underestimate the cost, the effort and time to implement the tool.
  • The determination of the KPI’s and incentives: this should not only involve finance, but also other Sales, sales administration, the production department and the other involved stakeholders. Build in incentives to ensure that everybody play the game. Make sure that the KPI’s are monitored regularly so as to be able to take corrective action in case of divergences

Conclusion

By managing better the order to Cash Cycle, you can generate a lot of savings. This requires a global approach involving all the stakeholders. To be successful, an optimization requires a number of concrete process improvements, but also the buy-in of all parties involved. A good change management should ensure that the improvements are embedded in the organization, and smart dashboards will enable to monitor that one remains on track.
Technology can help to automate the processes, but do build first a business case and to not underestimate the effort.

It can be a long journey, but in the end, it is worth the effort.

 

 

François de Witte

Senior Consultant at FDW Consult

 

 

More articles of the author:

PSD 2: A lot of opportunities but also big challenges (Part I)

PSD 2: The implementation of PSD 2: A lot of opportunities but also big challenges (Part II)

Treasury: Proposed “to do” list for 2017

Working capital management – not just a finance issue

 

Flex Treasurer: The life of an interim treasurer

| 16-2-2017 | Patrick Kunz |

 

An interim treasurer is just like a normal treasurer. The difference is that he has a flexible contract and changes “jobs” more often. Assignments can be to replace the existing treasurer due to leave or sickness. This means that he gets to take an operational role and be part of the normal organization, often until a “permanent” solution is found. I did several of these roles, which often last between 3-6 months and 1 year.

 

Treasury Support

Another option is to provide support to an existing team/treasurer/CFO on a treasury related project. These can be short term or longer projects. Often the projects cannot be filled with the existing capacity of the team and hiring a permanent FTE for this is not an option. Another reason can be to finish the project quicker due to nearing deadlines. These projects are often several weeks to a couple of months. For example I helped a big semi-profit organization from Rotterdam to investigate into embedded derivatives in the firm to comply with new regulation. The project was finished in several weeks and the accountant accepted my conclusions in the annual report. Also I build a RAROC model for one client to periodically rank their banks based on return versus risk adjusted capital. A powerful tool to compare banks and their profitability compared to their lending.

Treasury Expert

An interim/flex treasurer does not have to be a fulltime position. At big corporates and multinationals this is often the case but smaller firms often don’t have fulltime treasurers. Sometimes the controller or the CFO fulfills the treasury position “parttime”. A part time (external) treasurer could potentially add value here. The controller/CFO has extra time for his “normal” activities and an expert is hired for the treasury task. This can be from a couple of hours a day to several days. For example I helped a real estate company with the valuation and (weekly) margin calls on their interest rate derivative portfolio, their cash management optimalisation, treasury reporting and ad hoc work. 8 hours a week.

Treasury Scan

Are you not sure if treasury is optimal at your company? A treasury scan might be a solution. A ‘quick and dirty’ scan is possible in 1 day if treasury data is collected beforehand. The costs of a treasury scan are therefore limited and often earned back from treasury savings which were identified by the scan and later realized by either the flex treasurer or the company itself; often in combination.

Do you recognize one the above situations? Do you want to know more about an (interim) Flex Treasurer?
Please click on this link or visit my expert page on treasuryXL.

 

Patrick Kunz

Treasury, Finance & Risk Consultant/ Owner Pecunia Treasury & Finance BV & Flex Treasurer

 

 

The Five Cash Management Initiatives Treasurers Should Consider

|8-2-2017 | Jan Meulendijks | iTreasurer |

 

In October 2014 iTreasurer published an article ‘The Five Cash Management Initiatives Treasurers Should Consider‘ about how treasurers keep focus on ways to keep cash management in their organisation efficient and cost effective.  As this is always an important issue and also relevant in 2017, we asked our expert Jan Meulendijks to comment on the article.

Five initiatives

iTreasurer stated in their article that treasurers should spend their time on five initiatives and that they should be part of a treasurers’ overall budget and resource planning process.

Going beyond SEPA

iTreasurer stated: ‘Initially rolled out as an approach for risk mitigation for commercial payment transactions in Euro, SEPA adopters have found that SEPA, or the Single Euro Payments Area, provides a more efficient way to transfer and collect funds across borders without managing all the different legal payment frameworks of each country. But despite the many bright spots of SEPA, “reconciliation in 2014/2015 was still a challenge,”

According to Jan Meulendijks the development of reconciliation tools has now become an issue for ERP/General ledger software developers and that the banks do not need to focus on it any more. Processing digital account information/account statements are a well established feature of financial software programs and also include the processing of open accounts receivables.

Global Account Rationalization

‘The SEPA initiative has acted as the catalyst for other global projects, with high priority placed on account rationalization. By reducing accounts across Europe, many large US multinational corporations are realizing significant savings in both hard- and soft-dollar costs. “In the SEPA environment, all corporates needed was one account for payments and one account for receivables across the SEPA landscape,’ said Mr. Brieske, Regional Head of Trade Finance and Cash Management Corporates Global Solutions Americas, Global Transaction Banking, Deutsche Bank in the article. At that time keeping every bank happy was  a tough job, if not impossible. Being able to spread the wallet across fewer banks was one of the positive by-products of a bank consolidation.

‘Nowadays it is remarkable to see that “wallet sizing” has turned around completely,’ says Jan Meulendijks. ‘Today it is the companies that determine how much of their wallet will be handled by which bank and the banks no longer have influence on the amount of transactions with a company.’
In-House Bank Structures

Treasurers had  continued to find ways to alleviate the growing cash balances that had become strategically more important to their organizations. Structures like in-house banks (IHBs) were becoming more commonplace as organizations took the next step to further enhance their global liquidity models. The practical considerations for the evolution of the IHB could be directly attributed to global expansion and increased revenue mix overseas in addition to complexities related to time zones, language, growth of regional shared services and decision execution.

The Five Cash Management Initiatives Treasurers Should Consider

Jan Meulendijks states that in the chart of the article the first three steps of “in-house bank progression” are no real in-house bank developments, but treasury-related measures, that now also take place in medium-sized organisations. ‘Only if companies have a real ‘payment factory’, I call it a in-house bank.’
RMB Internationalization

As a result of the ongoing RMB regulatory changes, there had been a significant improvement in the ease of making cross-border RMB payments via China. The RMB was a fairly new currency on the international scene then. The RMB internationalization project had begun to pick up steam over the second half of 2014, with many global MNCs looking to launch new cash management strategies in Asia. New structures were thought to be able to unlock China’s previously “trapped cash” challenge, and optimize their cash held in this part of the world where many opportunities lie for them.

Jan sees a tendency today that the more the deregulation of the RMB progresses the more one can treat it as any other currency. However, this is not achieved yet and Asia will continue to be an region where ‘trapped cash’ occurs on a regular basis.

 Maximizing Excess Cash
According to Martin Runow, Head of Cash Management Corporates Americas, Global Transaction Banking, Deutsche Bank most MNCs then were still very risk-averse and focused on principal preservation. ‘The dilemma is corporates are looking for yield but there is little appetite to go into risky assets,’ he said in 2014. With the continuation of low yields, cash portfolio asset allocations were heavily weighted toward money market funds, US Treasuries and agency debt, corporate bonds above the single-A threshold and corporate commercial paper and certificates of deposit. Treasurers were thought to be well served to consider implementing an IHB so that their growing levels of excess cash could work harder around the globe versus sitting in a very low-yielding investment asset.
Now in 2017 Jan Meulendijks states that this is what treasury is all about: companies should not aspire  the role of banker, but submit their cash into the company’s operating cycle as working capital. In fact they should fall back on effective cash management: receive in an effective way and pay with as little cost as possible.
There is a lot to win for SMEs, too.
Jan Meulendijks


Jan Meulendijks
Cash management, transaction banking and trade professional







 Source: iTreasurer

 

 

Nieuw op treasuryXL: de Flex Treasurer

| 19-1-2017 | treasuryXL |

 

Wat is een Flex Treasurer?

Stel: je bent de eigenaar van of werkt in een kleine of middelgrote organisatie die geen treasurer of cash manager in dienst heeft. Je denkt waarschijnlijk dat er binnen jouw organisatie geen plaats is voor een dergelijke functie. Maar, oordeel niet te snel: ook het MKB heeft behoefte aan professionals als het gaat om treasury en cash management. Toch gaat het aannemen van iemand vaak een stap te ver.

Wij bieden je nu de mogelijkheid om een Flex Treasurer in te huren op urenbasis, als lump sum of in een abonnementsvorm. We willen met deze dienstverlening geen substituut worden voor de grote treasury consultancy organisaties maar we bieden graag ondersteuning bij vraagstukken die nu onbeantwoord blijven. Je kunt je vraag aan ons stellen en wij zullen je vrijblijvend in contact brengen met de juiste deskundige.

Wij kennen Flex Treasurers uit verschillende vakgebieden: risk, bankrelaties & technologie, regulations, non-profit, financiering, trade finance, cash management, SME & overige gebieden.

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De verschillende diensten

Hieronder staat een overzicht van de diensten die we aanbieden in samenwerking met de Flex Treasurers.

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Het aanbod is in ontwikkeling en in de loop van tijd zullen er steeds meer diensten bij komen.

Meer informatie

Wil je gebruik maken van een van de aangeboden diensten of heb je een andere vraag? Of wil je je aansluiten als Flex Treasurer?

Pieter de Kiewit helpt je graag verder.

Pieter de Kiewit[email protected]
06-11119783

 

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Brexit and the effects for treasurers

| 10-1-2017 | PowertoPay | sponsored content |

brexitBrexit is an ongoing issue in not just the financial world, but in the entire world. A topic which had lots of speculations, rumors and uncertainties. Although 2017 is going to bring us more clearness around Brexit, the exact date when Brexit is actually happening is still unknown. Theresa May, Prime Minister of the UK, said she will put Article 50 into motion by the end of March 2017. If she is able to put this article into motion, the actual process of withdrawal must be completed within two years. Anyhow, Brexit has its effects on the economy.

Netherlands and Belgium

Zooming in on the Netherlands and Belgium, Brexit will leave its marks as well. Because of extended research, Rob Rühl, director of Next Markets, is able to tell treasurers an update on what Brexit means for them. He is going to share his findings on a free Treasury Seminar, which is going to be held in the Netherlands and Belgium in the beginning of March. This seminar is hosted by payment specialized companies PowertoPay, TreasuryServices and the internationally known SWIFT. Since the results of article 50 going into motion or not are approaching, Rob Rühl will be able to update treasurers according to the latest developments. It’s important for treasurers to keep up with the latest developments to optimize their payment flows and thus to keep their businesses optimized. Or as Hans Leybaert, CEO of PowertoPay, looks at it; by focusing on smart Fintech solutions, platforms and ecosystems, you can create broad business opportunities that matter. Not just Brexit is interesting for treasures, but also think of topics as bank independency, cash management and Basel III which are important to learn about. More info and signing up for the seminar:  http://info.powertopay.com/sign-up-page-seminar

powertopay2PowerToPay

Claire van Ingen – Online Marketeer

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treasuryXL Resources (part II): education & training

| 5-1-2017 | Annette Gillhart |

workshop Financial SystemsIn december we called in your help to refer to our page ‘Resources‘ and complete our list of associations. We have received interesting suggestions which will be added to the list shortly. Today we would like to give you an overview of the treasury education and training organisations that we have listed on this same page under the tab ‘education and training‘. Of course you are again most welcome to send in suggestions, as we do not claim that this list is complete.

As our list is rather long we will start with 3 organisations:

1. Alex van Groningen

Since 1994 Alex van Groningen is one of the leading partners for finance professionals. They also built several major communities with their partners. Within those communities knowledge, network and career meet, support and enforce each other. More than 100.000 professionals meet online and in class rooms.

Training programs comprise amongst others Financial analysis, Strategic financial management, Controller in one week and Business valuation.

2. NCOI

Education and training for working people in The Netherlands.

NCOI stands for keeping skills on a high level or improving these skills and their target group is the working population. Every year they enlarge the knowledge, skills and competence of thousands of working people. Their approach is strongly related to the working practice and offers a high extend of flexiblity to combine job and study. They offer various starting dates, different study types, top lecturers, group lessons and a valuable diploma.

A short summary of the programs they have for treasurers and finance professionals (courses are in Dutch):

Masterclass Financing & Treasury, Module treasury management, Master Finance & Control

3. NIBE-SVV

NIBE-SVV offers education and training for bank, insurance and stock exchange professionals throughout The Netherlands. According to their information they are the leading institute for finance professionals. Courses and programs are matched with the existing knowledge and competences of participants.

Their approach is practical and they provide profession-oriented training on MBO (intermediate vocacional education) , HBO- (higher vocational education)  and Master level.

They offer the following programs for treasurers and finance professionals (in Dutch):
Introduction riskmanagement, Financial riskmanagement, Cashmanagement, Financial risk and regulation, Foundation of financial risk, Cashmanagment and Tradefinance

 

The complete list of education and training organisations on our website can be found under ‘education and training‘.

For more information about a particular organisation and the most recent programs please visit their websites.

Have you been following an interesting and valuable training lately that you want to tell us about? Please feel free to share it with us and the treasury community!

 

annette-gillhartAnnette Gillhart – Community Manager treasuryXL

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Safety of payments

| 3-1-2017 | Lionel Pavey | GT News

Fraud and cybercrime protection is of major importance for corporate treasurers. In the past year a new risk had to be added to the list: connectivity. Reports of banks being hacked and losing millions through unauthorised payments appeared more and more frequently and since protecting payment connectivity workflows was not a high priority item on the list of treasurers, it created damage in the industry.
GT News deals with the topic of how to protect payments in their article’ ‘Five tips for keeping your payments safe‘ on december 21st, 2016. We asked our expert Lionel Pavey to comment on the article and give us his own view on how to protect payments.

Safety of payments

As even medium size companies can easily have over 100,000 bank transactions per year, it is imperative for a company to ascertain the validity of all payments so that no fraudulent payments take place.

Authorisation Matrix

It is necessary to embed a clearly defined matrix within the company. This should follow a six-eye principle and be traceable within the payment system – invariably a bank payment system. The matrix should include the names of all those authorized; the amount they may authorize; the distinct legal entities they may represent etc. This data also needs to maintained and secured away from the payment centre (IT or legal department). If a new person needs to be added to the list who implements the procedure – Treasury or IT?

Types of payments

There are various workflows that will generate payments and these should be mapped and a complete process should be designed for each one – procurement system and creditors in the book keeping; financial obligations from the existing financing operations (loans, bonds etc.); tax on wages; social premiums; Value Added Tax (BTW); manual payments normally arising from expense claims and incidental purchases outside the normal procurement channel.

Validity of payments

Normal payments relating to creditors are relatively easy to follow – authorization has taken place in 2 different areas (procurement and book keeping). VAT requires data from book keeping for both debtors and creditors. Tax on wages and social premiums are normally presented just once a month either through the administration/controller channel or directly from HR. The biggest area of concern relates to manual payments.

Manual payments

These generally relate to purchases (normally one-off). The obvious question that arises is why is there a need for suppliers that are not in the existing procurement system? It is not impossible to ensure that there are preferred suppliers for all normal desires. Another source is repayments to debtors that are not balanced off against outstanding balances. If a company does not have dedicated software relating to the financing operations who, beyond the Treasury Department, can verify the amounts and dates? The area that requires the greatest vigilance relates to expense claims. Just because a line manager authorizes an expense claim does not mean that it is always compliant with company policy – this is an area where the onus should be on the controller to validate the integrity of the expense claim. Is the expense a genuine expense made in direct relationship to working for the company? An employee away on business and staying in a hotel is entitled to a meal at the expense of the company, but what is the policy towards alcohol and entertainment? Is the amount being claimed excessive and work related?

Integrity of bank systems

How secure is the bank system? When a batch is prepared for payment and an authorisation code produced, how is the code produced – what are the underlying factors that generate the code? Is it possible to alter the beneficiary’s account number after the batch has been produced? Would an alteration be seen by the system, resulting in an incorrect authorisation code? Banks generally do not provide a lot of information as to how their system generates codes.

Reconciliation

Who can extract data from the bank systems? Does this occur daily? Are all entries processed the following day in the book keeping system? What happens to items that are not immediately reconciled?

Conclusion

With regard to standard procurement, it should be easy to construct a solid working system that can be followed at all times. Manual payments are a weak link and a serious amount of time and effort has to be used in constructing a strong framework that has to be enforced and maintained at all times.

Lionel Pavey

 

 

Lionel Pavey

Cash Management and Treasury Specialist

 

4 financiële problemen die bedrijven in gevaar kunnen brengen

| 19-12-2016 | Schenkels | Pavey |  FM.nl |

bankrupcyOp FM.nl (Financieel Management) kunt u een artikel vinden over de vier financiële problemen, die de continuïteit van een bedrijf in gevaar kunnen brengen. Dit onderwerp werd uitvoerig besproken tijdens een opleiding risicomanagement van Alex van Groningen.

Het artikel gaat uitgebreid in op de vier problemen. Hier volgt een korte samenvatting:


1. Acuut probleem (illiquiditeit)

Bedrijven gaan vaak failliet, omdat ze geen cash meer hebben. Het gaat mis als er onvoldoende cash is om aan kortlopende financiële verplichtingen te kunnen voldoen. Met het werkkapitaal kunnen zich verschillende problemen voordoen:
● De hoeveelheid vlottende activa als percentage van de balans loopt te hoog op.

● Het probleem van onbeheersbare groei: vanwege snelle groei loopt de debiteurenpost te snel op.

● Wanneer een economische crisis uitbreekt, zoals de kredietcrisis van 2008, wordt liquiditeit schaars.

● Het grootste probleem ontstaat wanneer de cashflow snel daalt bij een achterhaald businessmodel terwijl de kosten/verplichtingen grotendeels hetzelfde blijven.

Je kunt werkkapitaal beoordelen met verschillende kengetallen: current ratio, quick ratio en netto-werkkapitaal. Echter, deze getallen zijn beperkt betrouwbaar omdat het momentopnamen zijn.

2. Chronisch probleem (organisatie is onrendabel)

Een onderneming kan jarenlang verlies lijden, maar toch blijven voortbestaan zolang er maar geld is. Wanneer de geldkraan wordt dichtgedraaid door de kredietverstrekker kan een chronisch probleem ineens een acuut probleem worden. Dit geldt bijvoorbeeld voor veel retailketens op A-locaties, die vanwege de enorme impact van internetwinkelen onrendabel werden. Terwijl de omzet per winkel terugliep bleven de vaste lasten, zoals huur, salaris en afschrijvingen, gelijk.

3. Structureel probleem (insolvabiliteit)

Van insolvabiliteit spreek je wanneer er iets mis is met de vermogensstructuur van een onderneming. Hoe hoger de leverage – het vreemd vermogen – hoe lager de solvabiliteit. Het aantrekken van meer vreemd vermogen is niet per definitie verkeerd. Het kan ondernemingen in staat stellen te investeren en te groeien. Maar omdat het geld kost aan rente en risico’s met zich meebrengt moet er wel meer rendement tegenover staan.

4. Strategisch probleem (toekomstplannen)

Een onderneming heeft een strategisch probleem wanneer het management niet goed in zicht heeft hoe de markt veranderd en hoe de onderneming haar toekomstplannen daarop moet aanpassen. Dit probleem kun je niet uit de boekhouding halen. Volgens docent Jan Vis, een autoriteit op het gebied van waarderingsvraagstukken, is het van het allergrootste belang dat het management zich focust op het vergroten van de toekomstige geldstromen, want waarde ligt altijd in de toekomst en in het genereren van cash (geen winst).

Wij hebben twee van onze experts gevraagd om hierop commentaar te geven:

Boudewijn Schenkels:
De meeste bedrijven in problemen zijn inderdaad afhankelijk van overnames of te afhankelijk geworden van de standaard financieringsproducten van banken. Hoe langer hun financiële crisis voortduurt hoe eerder de bodem van de kas in zicht komt. Er wordt (nog) niet of te weinig gedacht aan de alternatieve onorthodoxe vormen zoals bijvoorbeeld crowd-funding. Banken worden hier steeds creatiever in en er ontstaan steeds meer netwerken. Out-of-the-box vormen die alle 4 de probleemgebieden kunnen tackelen of beheersen. Ook kom ik ook nog steeds bedrijven tegen waar vastgehouden wordt aan oude structuren in het kader van cash management. In het post-SEPA tijdperk zijn lijnen korter en is betalingsverkeer meer transparant en ontstaan er nieuwe producten. Om te komen tot deze nieuwe vormen is een afwijkende strategische visie nodig vanuit management. Streef er constant naar onderscheidend en denk na over hetgeen er verder in de wereld aan de hand is dat er onverwachte wendingen ontstaan. Kijk naar de politiek.

boudewijnschenkels150x150

 

 

Boudewijn Schenkels 

Senior Consultant Payments  bij Payments Advisory Group

 



Lionel Pavey:
Hij reageert op het probleem illiquiditeit: Er zijn 2 stromen waar geld vaak vast zit – voorraden en debiteuren.

Voorraden
1)     Plan de hele cyclus van levering tot verkoop

2)     Hoe lang is de levertijd

3)     Hoeveel ruimte nemen de goederen in beslag en heb ik genoeg ruimte

4)     Zijn de voorraden snel bederfelijk

5)     Hoeveel leveranciers zijn er

6)     Zijn de goederen seizoensgebonden

7)     Implementeren van “just-in-time” methodiek

Debiteuren
1)     Facturen tijdig en correct versturen

2)     Controleren en vermelding van juiste voorwaarden

3)     1 week na verzending controleren dat facturen zijn ontvangen bij debiteur

4)     Bevestig met debiteur dat alle gegevens correct zijn

5)     Bevestig met debiteur dat betaling vindt plaats op afgesproken datum

6)     Alle contact met debiteur ten eerste via telefoon, daarna via email

7)     Implementeren van een solide debiteurenbeheer

8)     Altijd proactief actie ondernemen – niet wachten op debiteur

9)     Laat verkoop afdeling weten de stand van zaken, maar laat verkopers nooit direct met klanten praten/onderhandelen over openstaande posten

10)  Zorg voor alle nodige vaste gegevens van een debiteur – contact persoon, hoofd crediteuradministratie enz.

11)  Uw klant is ook een mens – als een klant wordt op de hoogte gesteld van openstaande posten, dan realiseren zij dat U een goede beheersing hebben van alle organisatorische  aspecten

Lionel Pavey

 

Lionel Pavey

Cash Management and Treasury Specialist – Flex Treasurer

 

 

 

 

 

Working Capital Management – not just a finance issue

|14-12-2016 | François de Witte |

money-iii

 

When looking at the sales, conversion and procurement cycle, we should not only focus on the stated DSO, but also at the hidden DSO. In order to identify this, we must go much further to a complete analysis of the order to cash cycle, as illustrated by the following  6 examples:

 

 

  • Several companies do not manage their inventory efficiently
  • Quite a lot of companies still have a time lag between the moment that the goods and the services are delivered, and the moment that the invoice is issued
  • Several  companies still issue paper based invoices. The postal delay will also increase the collection time. For this reason, I recommend to my clients to move to e-invoicing
  • When I worked with a car dealer, I realised that between the moment that the cars were delivered by the importer, and the moment that they were sold, there was a huge time lag
  • A marketing company struggled with the process of offers, leading to purchase orders, because the various participating units did not provide their time sheet and cost estimation in time.
  • On the inventory side, purchase of spare parts were done, even without having a duly executed purchase order of the client, and clients were not reminded in time to take delivery of the goods, resulting in higher stocks

Hence, when starting an assignment on the working capital management optimisation, one should not only look at the processes within finance, but at the overall processes.in the company. By analysing the detailed processes on the floor, you can better understand the drivers of the cash conversion cycle, and take some actions, such as:

  • Ensuring that procurement only purchase spare parts when they have a duly executed purchase order, with then required the advance payment
  • Making staff aware of the need to ensure a quick invoicing process
  • Understanding the possible resistance to new concepts such as e-invoicing and automated incoming document scanning
  • Identifying the triggers, which will make that the staff cooperates to reduce the order to cash cycle
  • Having a better alignment between the finance staff and the sales department on e.g. the credit risk and the payment terms
  • Make procurement more sensitive to treasury aspects. I have seen several cash risk companies who left aside the possibility of supply chain financing of discounting schemes, because the KPIs of both procurement and treasury were not aligned;

But overall, if you wish to succeed in optimising the cash conversion cycle, you need to ensure that the changes are embedded in the organisation by:

  • Explaining to all the participants the importance of working capital management and their contribution to it
  • Providing to the various participants KPIs in this area, which are monitored on a regular basis. In my recent assignment, we have put joint KPIs for the Sales Administration in prompt invoicing and in DSO terms
  • Ensuring also that there is an internal control on the procedures
  • Ensure that you have the correct tooling (e.g. e-invoicing, credit management, credit collection, etc.)
  • Having a regular review of the processes

We can conclude that an efficient working capital management is a matter for the whole company. Beside hard skills, you also need soft skills and KPIs to ensure that the processes are really embedded in the organisation.

francois-de-witte

 

François de Witte

Senior Consultant at FDW Consult